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He held those gold eyes, familiar gold eyes, for a beat. Shock was a star in his chest, glowing and luminous. He launched into a frantic explanation before the guards could say anything else. “We weren’t breaking in to steal anything or to spy. I need help. Badly. You’ve seen the Vassalian army spreading, and the wave of darkness that follows it. That darkness is the dark saints that were defeated by the fae a thousand years ago. They’ve escaped their prison, and they want this entire continent for themselves. Or they want to kill us as revenge, I don’t fucking know. I was there when the Venhausian circle shattered. I saw what came out, Ifeltthem, like my bones were being crushed inside my body, magic worse and stronger than anything I’ve felt before.”

The general enforcer blinked, the only sign of surprise he showed. Clearly, he’d been expecting a different explanation, so Isak forged on, breathless now.

“They sacrificed hundreds of beastkind and fae to open the circle at Venhaus, and they used soldiers in the army to do their dirty work. Soldiers like the ones getting closer to your borders day by day. Monsters were made in the water around the saints' circle, and I’ll bet even more have been made since, but the saints are the true threat. My brother, my mate, and their friends tried to seal the circle, to repair the stones the saints shattered, but they were overcome. The dark saints are too powerful, impossible to beat. They were taken. My brother, my mate, and the others—they were kidnapped, and they’re imprisoned and being tortured and—help me.Please.”

It was a useless, impotent finish, but Isak was begging now.

“An interesting story,” the general enforcer said eventually, looking between the three of them with an expression too composed to read.

Isak dragged a hand through his hair, restless, desperate. “You’re not going to believe a single thing I say, but some of the saints were reborn in ordinary fae and beastkind, like me. That’sthe natural way of things, a line of succession. The others were meant to be reborn too, but theyresisted,forcing their way into the realm through the broken circle and creating the dark poison you can literallyseespreading across the world. How long will it be until it reaches you here?”

“It won’t,” the general said in an unbending voice, nothing but confidence in his expression. The hard lines of his face said he’d witnessed death and horrors firsthand. A practical sort. And Isak wanted him to believe in legends.

“They have his mate,” Sunny burst out, imploring the man. “They took his mate, and it’s important that we get her back.She’simportant.” He’d told them both as much but hadn’t told them her identity. He’d planned to guard it, to keep it close to his chest, but he met the general enforcer’s eyes again and threw that plan out the window.

“She dared to defy her aunt,” Isak said, not looking away from the man. “She fought back, instead of blindly obeying, and theycrucified her.”

The general winced, itching at his shoulder as if he could feel where his wings hid under his skin. Isak didn’t think Maia realised he even knew what Ismene had done to her, but he’d been there for the whole walk from Eosantha to the island, and helistened.He saw the ragged, blackened edge of her wing.

“They crucified her, and tortured her, and she barely escaped with her life. The Queen of the Vassal Empire is in league with the dark saints; how else do you think she’s conquered so much land so quickly? It’s dark magic, corrupt power. The queen tried to use it on my mate, but she escaped. She came to Venhaus, to find me, and to repair the saints' circle.”

The general enforcer had gone still.

“She was trying to stop this before it happened, to prevent darkness sweeping across the world. Even after torture and crucifixion, even aftereverythingshe suffered in that palace,because there is still some goodness left in this fucked up world and most of it is in her. And theytook her.”Isak was breathing hard, trembling. “All she wants is to be free. To be free of the queen, to be free of the saints, to live a single goddamn day without being threatened or in pain.”

“Isak, I’m so sorry,” Sunny breathed, reaching out to lay a hand on his shoulder. It shored him up when he’d been fading, shaking.

“I’ve seen those eyes before,” Isak told the general enforcer. “I’ve seen them in the face of my mate. Maia Delakore.”

“Nysavion,”the man snarled, jerking forward, canines bared in what Isak thought was an extremely rare show of emotion. “Her name is Nysavion.”

Isak knew that, had only goaded the general into a reaction, and he’d been right. He was fuckingright.Fae aged slowly, but this man was far too young to be Maia's father which meant… “You’re her brother.”

The general enforcer lunged forward lethally fast, so quickly that Viskae squeaked in alarm, but the general didn’t attack Isak. He didn’t go for Anzhelika or Sunny either; he grabbed the five guards who’d come into the building with them and… and crows sprouted from his shoulders in something like gold ink, like smoke curling on the air, wings beating soundlessly. They dove, beaks piercing the foreheads of every peacekeeper until each dropped to the floor, one thud after another.

“What the fuck…?” Anzhelika whispered.

Yep. Isak’s thoughts exactly.

“No one can know who I am, you fools,” the general said, composed once more. The golden birds fluttered through the air and dove into his uniform jacket, vanishing from sight.

“Um.” Sunny lifted her hand, her eyes wide. “What exactly just happened?”

“I wiped the last three minutes from their minds.” The general enforcer fixed his attention on Isak, making his heart skip. “Now, tell me everything about Maia. In detail.”

Isak strode over to a desk and collapsed into the chair behind it, half aware he was sitting at the general’s desk. He’d barely even noticed the room before, all his attention on those golden eyes. “Sure. But first, how about an introduction?”

The general enforcer sighed, great shoulders heaving. “If you repeat a word of what is spoken in this room, I’ll kill every last one of you.”

Anzhelika whistled. “Super scary, ominous tone. Nice.”

“Anzh,” Sunny hissed quietly. “He just threatened us.”

“But he’d make a very pretty addition to our bed. It’s been so long since I’ve watched you with a male plaything,” Anzhelika replied in the same volume.

Isak pretended not to listen and raised a brow at the general, who sighed. His threat clearly hadn’t gone the way he wished. “I’m Harth Nysavion, illegitimate prince to the throne of Sainsa.”

“Brother of Maia Nysavion,” Isak added with a grin.